


painted love

by yououui



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Fai gets a tattoo and Kurogane's head goes empty, Fluff, M/M, Romance, they're in love and it's beautiful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23747851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yououui/pseuds/yououui
Summary: Kurogane swallowed as he turned Fai’s arm to admire the entirety of the beast. Then finally, when his voice came back to him, he simply asked, “Why?”
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite & Kurogane, Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane
Comments: 8
Kudos: 90





	painted love

**Author's Note:**

> Second story for @animangod! The request was "something cute involving dragons." Sorry to say that there are no actual dragons here, but hopefully it's cute at least!

Kurogane barely glanced at Fai as he walked into their shared room in Shirasagi Castle, instead immediately turning to begin shucking off his armor so he could slip into a comfortable kimono for the night. He only caught a glimpse of Fai standing in front of the tall mirror in the corner of their room, his left side turned in towards the reflection as he admired something Kurogane didn’t see. Probably a new kimono Tomoyo made for him, Kurogane figured.

“Did Kuro-sama have a long day?” Fai asked once Kurogane was half changed.

“Same annoying bullshit,” Kurogane said in a low, grumbling tone as he pulled his kimono up his arms and yanked the front shut without even bothering to make it look even somewhat decent.

He glanced over his shoulder at Fai again, hoping to see what it was that had Fai’s attention held so strongly. Not that Kurogane minded or anything, it was just that _usually_ he was greeted back in the evenings with a soft kiss and cool hands stroking down his back. It didn’t matter, he just… was curious about what caused the change.

That’s when Kurogane noticed that Fai’s kimono was half off, the left side hanging around his waist, exposing the back of a pale shoulder. He was turned in such a way that Kurogane couldn’t see his left arm, which seemed to be what he was looking at, and all he could see in the mirror was the reflection of Fai’s face as blue eyes scanned something unknown to Kurogane.

Kurogane returned his attention to tying his kimono shut. Perhaps his clumsy lover had managed to obtain a new bruise in a strange place; Gods know it wouldn’t be the first time that happened. Fai bruised as easily as a peach, and there was usually some yellow and purple shape found in some odd place on his body with no recollection of how or when he actually got it.

“How was studying with Tomoyo?” Kurogane asked as he walked over to their trunk where they hid their good sake.

“Fascinating,” Fai replied happily, and Kurogane heard the volume of his voice change slightly as he finally turned from the mirror. “And exhausting. I feel like my brain will explode. I have no idea how I’ll be able to remember everything she’s teaching me.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kurogane said as he closed the trunk with two glass bottles in his hand. “She wouldn’t be bothering with teaching you if she didn’t—“

Kurogane’s words cut off abruptly when he turned to Fai, who was now facing him, his kimono still hanging off his left side. Fai’s left arm hung casually at his side, and twisted around it, from shoulder all the way down to his wrist, was a dragon, black as midnight against milky skin like an inky painting on a canvas.

Fai blinked and looked down at his arm, then smiled at Kurogane. “Do you like it?”

Kurogane slowly, silently, put down the bottles and walked over to Fai. He took Fai’s hand in his, lifting his arm to get a better look at the serpent. It’s tail tapered to a point at Fai’s shoulder, the body wrapping around his skinny arm, the snout coming just to the back of Fai’s hand. Along its back were spiked ridges, its body had negative spaces to emulate scales, and its mouth opened to bare sharp teeth. It was beautiful, almost feeling alive when Fai moved his arm.

Kurogane swallowed and lifted his other hand to touch it, but stopped before he could make contact, hesitant for a reason he couldn’t place.

“It’s okay if you don’t like it,” Fai said, and Kurogane looked from the eyes of the dragon into an ocean of blue. “It’s not a real tattoo.”

Kurogane blinked and looked back at the ink on Fai’s skin. He rubbed his finger over the dragon, but it didn’t smudge off. “I think the woman said it will come off after a few baths,” Fai explained to Kurogane. “But it’ll come off eventually.”

Kurogane swallowed as he turned Fai’s arm to admire the entirety of the beast. Then finally, when his voice came back to him, he simply asked, “Why?”

Fai looked down at his arm as well, allowing Kurogane to move it as he pleased. “I was reading the other day,” He told Kurogane. “And came across the story of the Dragon and the Phoenix.”

Kurogane stopped looking at Fai’s arm so he could meet Fai’s eyes again instead. He continued holding Fai’s hand though, keeping the dragon hovered between them. Fai smiled as he looked down at the painting on his skin.

“I had never heard such a tale,” Fai admitted. “And it surprised me, how well it seemed to… fit the two of us. I mean, my entire life, long before we ever even met, I had a phoenix spreading its wings on my back. And you, well, I don’t even have to explain. Your family heirloom is a dragon itself.”

Kurogane nodded, remembering the tattoo being lifted straight from Fai’s skin, the memory of when it was placed there by Ashura. He had barely noticed when they first met, too preoccupied with finding a way home to focus on a stranger’s payment to the witch. Then he had seen Fai’s Kudan and he thought it was… strange, to say the least. Having grown up with the folklore of the Phoenix and the Dragon, he knew the symbolism the creatures carried, and there was this strange, beautiful man seemingly the embodiment of the Phoenix, fighting by Kurogane’s—the Dragon’s--side.

A coincidence, Kurogane figured at first. But the more time they spent together, the more Kurogane fell into blue eyes and for a man so impossibly different and as fleeting as a bird, Kurogane thought that maybe some of the stories were true, and maybe the witch was right about there being no such thing as coincidence.

“It made everything feel like it was—like we were fated for this,” Fai continued quietly into the space between them. “I thought that was very beautiful. And then I went into town today after I finished my studies and found this little shop and without even thinking about it, I was inside getting my arm painted.”

“Why not get a Phoenix then?” Kurogane asked as he absentmindedly moved his fingers between Fai’s. 

Fai smiled sheepishly and tucked his chin down, hiding his face, but Kurogane could still see the tips of pale ears flushing red. “Well, I thought it would be nice to have a piece of you,” Fai admitted quietly. “And I remembered you telling me about how your father also had a tattoo like this. For some reason, the thought of also having a dragon made me feel like I was… Maybe… part of the family, or something…”

Fai trailed off and cleared his throat. Kurogane felt something in his chest tighten and swell at the same time, and all he could think it could be was love, love for this absurdly idiotic and wonderful man standing in front of him. He dropped Fai’s hand to instead lift Fai’s chin, forcing azure eyes to look up at him. Kurogane could tell Fai was biting the inside of his cheek, so Kurogane dipped his head down and kissed away the nervousness.

Fai’s left hand landed softly at the side of Kurogane’s neck, doing nothing more than just grounding the two of them in that space, that moment. Kurogane pulled back just enough to say, “I think you should get it for real.” And then he kissed Fai again.

Fai laughed against Kurogane’s lips, pulled back with a hand on Kurogane’s chest, breathless and smiling. “What do you mean?” He asked, looking up at Kurogane with a raised brow.

“I mean, you should get this tattooed on your arm,” Kurogane said, tapping his fingers against the hand still against his neck, over the dragon’s head.

“R-Really?” Fai asked, blinking wide eyes. “Would that be… Okay? I thought tattoos had special meaning here—and besides, is it okay for a priest to have a tattoo? I’m not sure if—“

Kurogane kissed Fai again, this time to shut him up. Fai sighed against Kurogane’s mouth and stepped closer, so their bodies were pressed together. There were many things Kurogane liked, but he had to admit, sharing simple kisses like this with Fai could quite possibly be his favorite thing in the world.

He pulled back and looked down at Fai. “Nothing about you is traditional here,” Kurogane told him with a lazy half-smile. “You don’t have to worry about what’s deemed “acceptable” here. Some of it’s a load of bull anyway.”

Fai sighed, exasperated, and shook his head. “I’d like to try and not stand out any more than I already do,” He said with a laugh. He pulled his hand back so he could look at the dragon again, tilting his head and pondering. “Though, I suppose if I changed the design a bit… It would be hidden by my sleeves. No one would actually see it.”

“Except me,” Kurogane said, wrapping an arm around Fai’s to pull him closer.

Fai laughed and nodded. “Yes, yes, of course, and I’m sure that makes Kuro-sama feel very special.”

“It makes me feel something, I don’t know about special,” Kurogane murmured.

Fai laughed again and shook his head, stepping back from Kurogane. “Let’s finish this conversation with a drink, hm? I thought Kuro-sama needed one.”

“I never said that,” Kurogane said as he followed Fai out to their private veranda, grabbing the bottles of sake he had put down earlier and Fai picking up a couple of glasses.

“No, but I have a good sense for these things,” Fai said. He patted the space beside him, and Kurogane sat down there. He put down one bottle and opened the other to pour them both a drink as Fai pulled his kimono up over his arm, hiding the dragon, only the tip of its head peeking out from under the edge of his sleeve.

Kurogane handed Fai his glass, and they each took a sip. “I’m being serious,” Kurogane said over the rim of his glass. “You should get that tattooed.”

Fai lowered the glass from his mouth and looked at Kurogane, eyes narrowed in confusion as he regarded his partner. “But what about you?” He asked. “I remember you telling me that you wanted to get a tattoo like your father’s one day. I wouldn’t want to take that from you. And I do think it would be strange for the two of us to have the same tattoo.”

Kurogane shrugged and took another sip. “You having the tattoo would honor him as much as it would if I had it.”

“But you’re his son,” Fai said with a frown.

“Yeah, and so are you,” Kurogane said with a shrug as he took another sip.

Fai’s frown slipped away and his eyes went big, his cheeks flushing. “N-No I’m—”

“Trust me,” Kurogane interrupted. “If they were still here, they would _insist_ that yeah, you are.”

Fai pressed his lips tight in a straight line and gulped, his cheeks growing even redder. He distracted himself by drinking the rest of his glass in one go and pouring himself another, but Kurogane took the bottle from him and poured the glass instead. Fai swallowed and he thanked Kurogane quietly as he took a sip. 

“You don’t have to get it if you don’t want to, obviously,” Kurogane said as he put the bottle down and leaned back on one hand. “But if you want to, don’t worry about me. It got me thinking about another tattoo I could get instead.”

“And what tattoo would that be?” Fai asked.

“Well, you said having the dragon felt like having a piece of me,” Kurogane said. “So… Why don’t I just do the same for you? I could get a phoenix somewhere.”

Fai went so long without saying anything, Kurogane worried for a moment that he had upset the mage somehow. When he looked though, he found Fai staring at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw, stunned silent. “Y-You’d do that?” Fai asked when he realized he’d been quiet too long.

Kurogane snorted and shook his head. He put his hand on the top of Fai’s head and ruffled his hair, pressing down just a bit so Fai let out a squeak of discomfort. “Don’t be such an idiot,” Kurogane said as he pulled his hand away from Fai’s now messy hair. “You ask like it’s such an absurd idea.”

Fai tried to flatten his hair and shook his head. “Not absurd, just… Surprising, I suppose.”

“So you don’t like the idea?” Kurogane asked.

“No,” Fai said, shaking his head. Then, he grinned wide and bright. “I love the idea.”

Kurogane smiled, unable to help himself, and nodded. “Good. Then you’ll get the dragon, and I’ll get the phoenix.”

Fai held his glass up, and Kurogane knocked his own against it. They both took a sip, and Fai sighed and leaned against Kurogane’s side, looking up at the sky. After a long moment of silence, he said, “It always surprises me when Kuro-sama is so mushy and romantic.”

“Shut up,” Kurogane drawled. “Or I’ll tattoo the word “idiot” across your forehead.”

Fai laughed and his weight against Kurogane’s side lifted. Then, warm lips pressed against Kurogane’s cheek. He looked over at Fai, who was looking at him with eyes sparkling like stars. “Thank you, Kuro-sama,” Fai said quietly.

Kurogane nodded silently, Fai closed the distance and pressed a chaste kiss to Kurogane’s lips. He pulled back and returned to his spot against Kurogane’s side. The two slowly drank their sake while looking up at the sky, occasionally commenting about their day. Fai opened the second bottle and poured Kurogane a fresh glass.

“We should drink quicker, Kuro-sama,” He said as he poured himself a glass.

“Why?” Kurogane asked. “Got somewhere to be?”

“No,” Fai said with a cheeky smile. “But I know Kuro-sama wants to spend some more time looking at me with my clothes off so he can see the dragon.”

“Tch, I never said that,” Kurogane said. He definitely thought it, though.

“I know,” Fai said like he could read Kurogane’s mind. He smiled and continued, “But like I said before, I have a sense for these things.”

Kurogane rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Fai’s sense was always right, after all.


End file.
